IL GRANDE LABIRINTO

Winter is now, a long, never-ending winter. The snow covers the roads, you cannot escape, you cannot hear nothing. The journey is inside your soul. There, all things are upside-down. You are your own labyrinth.

This La Maschera di Cera's album is not strictly a concept album, but very near to that, though. Only four tracks, plus, as a bonus track, "La Consunzione" which is an extract from the opener "Il Viaggio nell'Oceano Capovolto pt. 1" (Voyager to the Inverted Ocean). Total running time 1 hour and 5 mns.

Dark and deep atmospheres. The results of all those things: piano, fender rhodes electric piano, hammond organ, mellotron 400, arp odissey, vc3, oberheim ob12, minimoog, roland analogic, harpsichord, clavinet, effects.

Great role for the bass guitar of Fabio Zuffanti. Two free riders: a rough electric guitar from the distance and a nervous flute, an evil flute. What a surprise, the evil flute! The flute goes around this spacey album as if it goes without any direction. Lost in a lost world (thanks to the magnificient Moodies for using their own words).

Dreamy feel sometimes, dramatic for the most part. Even absurd. Melodic sung tunes alternates with longer instrumental efforts. Sometime repetitive as those beautiful five minutes of the final part of "Il Viaggio nell'Oceano Capovolto pt. 2".

Not a masterpiece for sure, but a record that deserves much more attention by any good prog lover! Other reviewers have pointed out the references of this work to some typical italian sound from the seventies (such as PFM, for example). I don't know what they like to listen to. I do not find so "too much" references from the italian roots. It wouldn't be a mortal sin, by the way, neither a reason to down-grade the album.

Ah, almost forgotten the cover! What a beatiful and delicate cover!